Westbrook's Thunder overcome the San Antonio Spurs in their season debut

The Oklahoma City Thunder bring down the San Antonio Spurs (112-106)

It’s always great to see two championship-caliber teams face off. Full of All-Stars, these teams are eager to establish themselves in their first game of the season in order to shut down all the doubts from the rest of the league and gain temporary bragging rights.

The Oklahoma City Thunder closed down the San Antonio Spurs in a 112-106 victory today. Thunder star PG Russell Westbrook scored a double-double with 33 points and 10 assists to give new Head Coach Billy Donovan a debut win against the mighty Gregg Popovich-led Spurs.

Returning from his foot injury, MVP Candidate Kevin Durant had an off shooting night making only 6 out of his 19 field goals. However, he attracted a lot of contact and went on to convert all his 8 free throw opportunities. He was also responsible for making the two clutch free throws that sealed the W for his team. It was just his first game after a long part of last season on the bench and he’s expected to be more efficient and explosive as the season progresses.

Enes Kanter got 15 points and 16 rebounds for the Thunder giving them much needed support off the bench. Both teams had an incredibly efficient offense converting more than 48% of the opportunities from the field. Oklahoma City was almost perfect from the charity strike making 21/22 free throws.

The Spurs played really well, leading for a majority of the game till the 4^th quarter. Defensive player of the year Kawhi Leonard stayed true to his title and locked down the Durantula the best way he could. In spite of being a defensive nightmare, Leonard didn’t pick up his first foul until the 3rd Quarter. He scored a career-high 32 points and grabbed 8 rebounds along with 3 steals for the Spurs. Big man LaMarcus Aldridge got 11 points and 5 rebounds in his debut game with the San Antonio Spurs. Manu Ginobili put up 11 points and 7 assists on the board and Tony Parker got a respectable 10 points.

The game was closely contested throughout with no team gaining a definitive edge over the other. In a close game like this between championship teams, the last quarter was expected to bring the crowd to their feet and make Loud City even louder and it did not disappoint.

With the lead changing more than a few times in the last few minutes of the game, the Spurs made some errors on both ends of the court. A few unnecessary fouls on the defensive end combined with a disorganized play coming off two combined time-outs (full and 20-second) with 20 seconds to the end of regulation spelled doom for the Spurs. They were forced to start intentionally fouling the Thunder to stop the clock but unfortunately for them, the Thunder never missed a free throw in the 4th.

Player of the Game: Russell Westbrook

The All-Star game MVP can pretty much do everything on the court. He’s a great shooter with brilliant court vision. He’s too quick for most players on either teams and can explode to the rim at any given time. The versatility of Westbrook’s game enables him to score great numbers and do it consistently. He got 33 points, 10 assists and 2 steals enabling Thunder to defeat the 2014 Champions.

At times he would just outrun his opponents in transition giving them no time to set their defense. For a guy that quick, Westbrook is very strong enabling him to absorb contact and still convert the possession. In a post game interview with Doris Burke, Russell Westbrook commented on the new Donovan coaching style where he was given the freedom to be himself. All his coach asked him to do was to “go out and compete”.

The Thunder are definitely title contenders this season and Durant’s rise along with Westbrook’s consistency will guarantee that. Here’s how Durant scored 22 in his first season game after the injury: